Bond films turn 50 with Adele song and documentary

October 05, 2012|Reuters

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The James Bond film franchiseturns 50 on Friday with the release of a revealing newdocumentary about its turbulent past and the first listen of thenew theme tune performed by Adele.

The premiere of the first Bond film, "Dr. No", was held inLondon on October 5, 1962 and starred Scottish actor SeanConnery as the suave and brutal super-spy working for Britishintelligence to thwart the plans of an evil megalomaniac.

By the time the third movie in the franchise, "Goldfinger",hit the screens two years later, Bond was a cultural phenomenongenerating the kind of public excitement more often associatedwith British pop group the Beatles.

The character was quickly adopted by the British public andfurther afield as the embodiment of sophistication and courage,and his dress sense, taste in fast cars and beautiful women andcatch phrase "shaken, not stirred" entered mainstream culture.

Not everyone liked Bond. The films have often been dismissedas sexist for the seemingly endless line of scantily clad womenwho fall into bed with Bond, and several have been panned by thecritics.

But Bond's lasting appeal was underlined this summer whenactor Daniel Craig, as 007, and Britain's Queen Elizabethappeared together in a short, comic scene at Buckingham Palacein a highlight of the London Olympics opening ceremony.

Over the last five decades, EON Productions, formed by thecentral partnership of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and HarrySaltzman, has made 22 Bond movies which have amassed around $5billion at the global box office.

The 23rd film "Skyfall" gets its royal world premiere inLondon later this month and Adele's theme tune for the moviestarring Craig on Her Majesty's secret service hit the airwavesearly on Friday to mixed reviews.

Also released on Friday was "Everything or Nothing", thedocumentary directed by Stevan Riley that charts Bond's passagethrough studio collapses, personality clashes and the end of theCold War which could have spelled disaster for the series.

Instead it has adapted to the modern era with a femalespymaster M, played by Judi Dench, and a tough and serious 007in the form of Craig.

That constant reinvention has been one of the franchise'sgreatest strengths, with six actors playing the role in theofficial Bond movies.

Asked what he thought was the key to Bond's survival,producer Michael G. Wilson, the stepson of Broccoli who nowco-produces the films, said it was down to the source material -Ian Fleming's novels.

"It comes first of all from Fleming writing a character thathas many aspects, so that when we turned them into film,different actors could take on different aspects of thecharacter," he told Reuters.

"And it's really been our great fan base we've kept faithwith over the years and they've kept coming back. It's reallythe public that makes it more than anything else."

Also planned for "Global James Bond Day" is a charityauction at Christie's in London where among the Bond memorabiliaon sale is an Aston Martin car driven in "Quantum of Solace"valued up to 150,000 pounds ($242,500).

In the United States, events include a film retrospective atThe Museum of Modern Art in New York and a Music of Bond Nighthosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in LosAngeles.

There is also the inevitable marketing drive with ananniversary Blu-ray box set on sale and even a fragrance for mencalled "007".